As an owner of a couple of Amigas and an Atari STE, I can definitely say the difference from Epic Pinball between SB and Ultrasound was akin to listening to a MOD on the Atari's PSG, and then the DMA playback on the STE and Amiga. There's a reason the GUS is still sought-after for the the tracker and demoscene crowd.
Just got mine somewhat recently, and had no idea you could layer the OPL and FM Synth. Absolutely going to try that, makes this already awesome card even better!
From SB 16 Vibra to Orpheus II with GUS is quite a step. 😃 I own the exact same card with a green PCB and can highly recommend the WP32 McCake as a Wavetable daughterboard. With it you’ll not only get internal MT-32 but also regular GM.
I wish there would be already som ultimate guide. I received mine couple of days ago. I would retire to the shelf my Gravis Extreme but for now I just feel pain that I face different things. I also have the McCake but didn't reach that point to try it out. Of course I'll post at Vogons just I feel ashamed I couldn't figure the things out (card works but I didn't have that much of time to put the pieces together for the final configuration).
Hola Always Obsolete! I was playing Epic Pinball on real Gravis Ultrasound about 30 minutes ago. It sure sounds like the Orpheus II has what it takes to be a successor. And that Dual layered FM... that is HAWT. If you ever post more vids showing this thing off... YEAH that would be AWESOME
One thing I wanted to point out in my video. I'm taking output from the soundcard, into an HDMI converter, into a capture capture, into OBS on my laptop, remuxed into an MP4, into Adobe Premiere pro, into a final video for upload into UA-cam, from UA-cam to your speakers. My preference, in person, is the SoundCanvas for most games that have General Midi. However, GUS sounds really good in Descent and if I were to play through the whole game, I'd use that option.
I did not expect the layered OPL3+CrystalFM, that was pretty neat. Was that done in post-production or did I miss that feature of the Orpheus II? As for a wavetable header, I use a McCake from Serdashop. It provides a Raspberry Pi CM4 --> Wavetable board allowing you to run mt32-pi for both MT-32 synth via a dedicated Munt engine and soundfont v2 support fot GM MIDI. Combined with the GUS, it's a little bit of everything in one card.
@@alwaysobsolete Hot dog, that's neat. I've been on the fence about ordering the full Orpheus II. Most of my experience back in the day was with OPL3 (thanks Pro Audio Spectrum 16) and General MIDI (specifically XG MIDI through the Yamaha SW60XG card). I never had a GUS, never played anything that was specifically tuned for a GUS but I can't help that nagging thought that it's never too late to start. The GUS sounds fantastic on its own, distinctive and sometimes delightfully crunchy. I have an original Orpheus and that layering trick for the FM synths is not an option I was aware of. (I'm not even sure if it is possible on the original) but between your video, LGR, my experience with the original Orpheus and the fantastic team behind it, I'm thinking harder about pulling the trigger. Great review! Thank you for throwing all of the music options in there and leaving the labels on the screen.
Games like Doom, Heretic, Descent, Hexen all have great soundtracks with Gravis. Also Epic Pinball...One Must Fall. That era 1994/1995 just before game developers starting using CD Audio for music..Therefore I'd say powerful 486 or Pentium 1. For OS either DOS 6.22, Win95, or Win98.
I never owned or heard anything but SoundBlaster back in the 90' and those other cards don't sound nostalgic to me, only SB has this peculiar retro sound.
Buy a PAS16 and call it a day. That or use DOSBOX on a modern system with a Sound Blaster titanium. It allows you to upload new wave tables which is a game changer.
As an owner of a couple of Amigas and an Atari STE, I can definitely say the difference from Epic Pinball between SB and Ultrasound was akin to listening to a MOD on the Atari's PSG, and then the DMA playback on the STE and Amiga. There's a reason the GUS is still sought-after for the the tracker and demoscene crowd.
Just got mine somewhat recently, and had no idea you could layer the OPL and FM Synth. Absolutely going to try that, makes this already awesome card even better!
A lot of info on Vogons, enjoy it
That is a really beautiful card. Wish they were still avaliable in black.
You done a great review and your video was nicely edited.
Thank you.
From SB 16 Vibra to Orpheus II with GUS is quite a step. 😃 I own the exact same card with a green PCB and can highly recommend the WP32 McCake as a Wavetable daughterboard. With it you’ll not only get internal MT-32 but also regular GM.
I wish there would be already som ultimate guide. I received mine couple of days ago. I would retire to the shelf my Gravis Extreme but for now I just feel pain that I face different things. I also have the McCake but didn't reach that point to try it out. Of course I'll post at Vogons just I feel ashamed I couldn't figure the things out (card works but I didn't have that much of time to put the pieces together for the final configuration).
Hola Always Obsolete! I was playing Epic Pinball on real Gravis Ultrasound about 30 minutes ago. It sure sounds like the Orpheus II has what it takes to be a successor. And that Dual layered FM... that is HAWT. If you ever post more vids showing this thing off... YEAH that would be AWESOME
I'm going to put it in my '98 Alienware build I just did I think
Flexibility of this thing is nuts, but I really can't justify the price when I've already got an AWE64 Gold on hand.
I may be in the minority, not having had a GUS back in the day (wanting one, obviously)... but I think it sounds better than the Sound Canvas. :)
One thing I wanted to point out in my video. I'm taking output from the soundcard, into an HDMI converter, into a capture capture, into OBS on my laptop, remuxed into an MP4, into Adobe Premiere pro, into a final video for upload into UA-cam, from UA-cam to your speakers.
My preference, in person, is the SoundCanvas for most games that have General Midi. However, GUS sounds really good in Descent and if I were to play through the whole game, I'd use that option.
I did not expect the layered OPL3+CrystalFM, that was pretty neat.
Was that done in post-production or did I miss that feature of the Orpheus II?
As for a wavetable header, I use a McCake from Serdashop. It provides a Raspberry Pi CM4 --> Wavetable board allowing you to run mt32-pi for both MT-32 synth via a dedicated Munt engine and soundfont v2 support fot GM MIDI. Combined with the GUS, it's a little bit of everything in one card.
It is an option in the .ini file that is referenced when initializing the card in DOS
@@alwaysobsolete Hot dog, that's neat.
I've been on the fence about ordering the full Orpheus II. Most of my experience back in the day was with OPL3 (thanks Pro Audio Spectrum 16) and General MIDI (specifically XG MIDI through the Yamaha SW60XG card). I never had a GUS, never played anything that was specifically tuned for a GUS but I can't help that nagging thought that it's never too late to start.
The GUS sounds fantastic on its own, distinctive and sometimes delightfully crunchy.
I have an original Orpheus and that layering trick for the FM synths is not an option I was aware of. (I'm not even sure if it is possible on the original) but between your video, LGR, my experience with the original Orpheus and the fantastic team behind it, I'm thinking harder about pulling the trigger.
Great review! Thank you for throwing all of the music options in there and leaving the labels on the screen.
What CPU and Operating System works best with this sound card for playing games to get all the functions of this card ?
Games like Doom, Heretic, Descent, Hexen all have great soundtracks with Gravis. Also Epic Pinball...One Must Fall. That era 1994/1995 just before game developers starting using CD Audio for music..Therefore I'd say powerful 486 or Pentium 1. For OS either DOS 6.22, Win95, or Win98.
I never owned or heard anything but SoundBlaster back in the 90' and those other cards don't sound nostalgic to me, only SB has this peculiar retro sound.
GUS is the best sound for my
Buy a PAS16 and call it a day. That or use DOSBOX on a modern system with a Sound Blaster titanium. It allows you to upload new wave tables which is a game changer.
Owt??? Ooot
I'm Canadian eh?